Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.

I was enrolled into the LAfitness gym and personal trainer program on Nov. '06, with the intent to defeat the holiday season which each year helped me gain a few more pounds. The trainers/salespeople at the Irvine/Michelle street location were all smiles and bending over backwards to get me to sign a contract. Once the contract was signed, all the smiles and the excitement slowly dissappeared.

I was matched with a trainer called Jesse the day I signed. He was presented to me as the best match for the program I was looking for. However, the day I showed up for my appointment with him, I was told that he had been promoted. Therefore I was assigned a new trainer, a young man who clearly stated that this was a temporary job for him; a position he would keep until he finds a "real" job. Hmm... when I signed the contract, I thought I was promised an exclusive training elite, unique to and most important especially trained byLAfitness!!! Anyway, After 5 or 6 sessions with him, I showed up at the next appointment and waited, waited and waited only to find out that he had quit a few days earlier. Nobody at LAfitness cared to call me to give me notice and to reschedule with another trainer. Atr this point, I am clearly becoming impatient.

After voicing my disappointment (I was stood up, after all!), I was promised to be re-matched with a new trainer. The Manager (Jesse) promised to personally give me a phone call to reschedule with the new trainer. I waited, waited and waited for a phone call that day...in vain. I was stood up one more time.

By then, it was January-February '07. I then got busy with a new job. I consequently lost touch with my training. After a few weeks, I proceeded to call LAFiness again in an effort to reschedule an appointment with a trainer. I learned that Jesse was gone and that a new manager replaced him. Hmm...didn't I hear that before? Not a good sign. I explain my story to the new manager who profusely apologized and promised that it would not happen again. To which I responded that I was disappointed and therefore wanted to discontinue the personal trainer program, $58/month. Unfortunately, the managers of such large facilities as LAfitness centers are not empowered to cancel membership. I was given a number which I called. After struggling with finding a live person, then the correct department. I am told that the cancellation was to be done in writing. And no, email doesn't do it.

This was starting to be a real adventure. I wrote a letter to a PO box in Irvine through the post office, requesting a certified mail receipt. By now it is March 7, 2007. When I received the receipt 3/9/07, I trusted that business was taken care of.

Fast forward to today, August 31, 2007. For the last 3 months I have not been at the gym. My plantar faciitis prevents me from doing certain exercise and find myself swimming at the pool in my complex. Upon my return from vacation, I decide that I should cancel my general membership with LAfitness since I am no longer taking advantage of it. I call the LAfitness center to ask what the process was, only to find out that my personal trainer program ($58/month) was still active. It had never been cancelled and I had been charged $58 for the last 6 months when I should not have!!

I am then being told by, yet again, another new manager at the center (Eric) that I should contact the Irvine HQ to get it fixed. Meanwhile, he would "queue" an urgent request to the admin staff to help resolme my issue. This time, I am fulmigating. I call only to hear that the service does not accept calls. I could leave a VM if I wanted.

What does it take to cancel a membership? Should I do the letter-writing again? Clearly it did not help the first time. So here I am writing this report. I will call back after labor day. If I do not get any result, I will cancel the EFT, making sure that I send another certified mail receipt to LAfitness ahead of time to let them know of my imminent action. If they have no sense of civility, it doesn't mean that I should immitate them.

Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.

Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.